TWD: Espresso Cheesecake Brownies

This week’s TWD was chosen by Melissa of Life in a Peanut Shell: espresso cheesecake brownies! I love the idea of this recipe – cheesecake and brownies all in one dessert? Yum!

So, let’s start with the positive – I actually liked the flavor of the brownies. They’re creamy with a ton of espresso flavor. In fact, if I had a complaint with the flavor, it’s that the espresso cheesecake dominated a bit too much and didn’t let me enjoy the chocolate from the brownie layer. If I make them again, I’d definitely want either a thicker brownie bottom or a bit less cheesecake on top. Also, these brownies definitely taste better after a night in the fridge – I liked them a lot more the day after I made them.

Now, for the not so positive – these brownies did NOT want to come out of the pan! Here let me show you what happened when I tried to cut them:

Disaster! Even the brownies I did manage to get out were quite ragged. I had to trim one up quite a bit to make it presentable for its photo. Next time I’ll line the pan with foil so I can get the brownies out, and I’ll let them sit in the fridge overnight before I even think about cutting them, which I am pretty sure will help with the ragged edges.

Many thanks to Melissa for hosting this week! You can find the recipe for the brownies on her site. Head over to TWD to see the rest of this week’s brownies!

Ugh, I’m sorry you had issues with sticking. That’s always enough to ruin a recipe for me. I didn’t try these, but Dudley loved them. Yours look absolutely delicious. The bits in the pan look like guilt-free snacking to me (I always think that the broken pieces have 0 calories).

You got so much swirling that looks so pretty…all my chocolate sank to the bottom and I had to guess and never did get any swirly bits at all. LOL on the shot of the pan with the stubborn brownies. The ones that you used for the photo shoot look absolutely lovely!

Wow – those brownie “disasters” look great! 🙂 I hope you piled them in a large bowl with whipping cream or ice cream and let everyone grab a dishful! The ones that were salvaged look even better!! Love your swirling! Nicely done!

OH NO!!!! I think you made a great save with your model brownie, though! I would have just taken a fork and sat around the crumbled brownies all day… I never count the calories if the dish is not in its full true form hahaha!

Lately I have been lining every kind of pan for every kind of bar and cake with foil. Never have stickage! (I often spray the foil, too, but the non-stick foil is also great!I never flour the pan/foil. Just cooking spray.I thought the ratio cheesecake to brownie was off, too. I made the brownies three time. Once I only made half the cheesecake, which would have been better, but I thought the brownies were a bit dry. For my final attempt, I made the KH brownies with the full cheesecake recipe and day two they were/are DANG good. Better than I even wrote they were good. A recipe with lots of potential, if you use a different brownie–IMHO.But seriously, we would never know of your troubles, because I think the pieces look great!

At least you got a great shot for the blog despite the pan issues…I tried this recipe last week for a friend’s birthday (outside of TWD, I just own and love the book) and made it without the espresso flavoring. I wonder if you might like the flavors more that way?

That’s a great picture of the mess, Tracey. =) I love the idea of these, but definitely want to try them again with a stronger brownie layer that is more chocolatey and can stand up to the cheesecake. Still, they look great!